Taken - Before her very Eyes (19 page)

The feeling in Dean’s stomach was
one of pure nauseousness. He’d been resting so comfortably in the chief’s
office until Gavin had woken him, insistent that they should go and look for
the kidnapper.

Dean stared at the display,
wondering what had happened to the tiny blimp they had been following across
the countryside for the last fifteen minutes. He tapped the side of the unit
but the tiny blimp never moved.

“Something’s wrong with this
thing. Why isn’t it working?”

Gavin looked curiously at the
display then grabbed it from Dean, anxiously fiddling with the screen. “What
did you fucking do? It was working just a minute ago.”

“Nothing.” Dean grabbed it back.
“It’s stuck. It’s just sitting there on that spot. Why would it stop working?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she’s
stopped for a fucking break or maybe she tossed the bag out the fucking window.
Just wait a few minutes and we’ll get to that location and find out.”

Dean drew a deep breath and
stared out the window in the direction that the machine showed Summer was in.
There wasn’t much to see, only a hill in the distance. “What if she’s up on top
of that hill?”

“Then you’ll have to use your
fucking eyes for that one, Dean. The machine is only as good as your senses
are. If you can’t see shit, then it’s as useless as tits on a bull.”

Dean flipped the handheld
tracking unit over, looking for a supplier name, but found none. “How often do
you use this thing? And what the hell for?”

“It’s for emergency situations. I
got it from a security supplier a couple of months ago. It’s part of a bigger
package designed to track the delivery trucks across the country.” Gavin gave a
wink. “That way we always know exactly where the trucks are and what the
drivers are up to.”

“You want to spy on the delivery
guys?”

“No.” Gavin shrugged. “Well, yes.
Is it that bad of an idea to know where your shipments are? If you get the
whole package, you can track them minute for minute, making sure they’re not
screwing around—Or stopped at some warehouse filling the shipment with drugs
and guns.” Gavin waited until the point had sunk in. “They showed me what the
system has done for other trucking companies and it looks impressive.”

“And when were you going to run
it past me?” Dean reclined the seat and slid his leg out, easing the pressure
on his stomach. “Cause I don’t think the guys would like it.”

“They don’t have to know.” Gavin
tapped the screen. “Summer has absolutely no idea she’s being tracked either.
The only time they’d know is when we drag them into the office and bust them
for fucking around when we’re paying them to work. And if they’re fucking me
around, then I don’t care how they feel about the system because they’ll be
history.”

Dean held the screen up. “Are you
sure Summer doesn’t know?”

“Hell, this is the first time
I’ve used it. There might be something wrong with the transmitter. Maybe it got
wet or the battery ran low. What do I look like, a fucking techie?”

“Or she found it stuck inside the
bag and tossed it out the window.”

“No.” Gavin shook his head. “It’s
so small she’d never find it.”

“Well, no matter what, it’s not
doing any good right now.” Dean tapped the tracking unit against the dash.

“Don’t do that. You’re gonna
fucking break it, then we’ll be shit out of luck!”

Gavin reached for the unit but
Dean pulled it away, studying it closely. “I think it moved a little. Not much.
Not like before, but just a tiny bit.”

“Maybe her car broke down and
she’s walking?” Gavin said. “That could be the difference between the movements.”

“Maybe?” Dean had no idea. He
only hoped for Summer’s sake that she’d armed herself before going out to make
the drop. He knew she wasn’t supposed to carry a weapon, but being allowed and
being stupid were two different things. The old Summer wouldn’t be caught in a
situation like this unarmed and vulnerable. She’d have packed an extra gun and enough
ammunition to blow away half a small town.

Dean couldn’t believe how far
she’d come since this morning. Back then she’d been so terrified that she could
barely function when Sabrina was first taken, but now after only a few hours,
she was acting ever more like her old self. He hoped this boost of confidence
would remain after they got Sabrina back, because he hated seeing Summer acting
so pathetic.

“How could you let me drift off
in the chief’s office and allow Summer to leave without me?” Dean glanced over
at Gavin. “What was she thinking? She knew I wanted to go with her, even if it
was against the kidnapper’s orders.”

“I didn’t let you drift off, you
fell into a comatose state and I thought maybe you’d bit the dirt.”

Dean shook his head and stared out
at the approaching hill. “You think John Scott getting his head blown off, had
anything to do with her taking off to make the drop all by herself?”

Gavin turned the corner then
glanced at the screen, making sure he was heading in the right direction. “Trust
me. I offered to go with her, but she turned me down flat.”

“You? You wanted to go?”

“Don’t be so surprised. Like you
wouldn’t do the same thing if you were in my shoes?”

Dean knew he would. Even though
his relationship with Gavin hasn’t been the best over the years, he knew he
could never turn his back on flesh and blood. “You’re right. I’d do anything I
could to help.”

“Awe,” Gavin said, tousling
Dean’s hair. “If your mother was still around, she’d be so proud of you.”

“Stop it.” Dean tried to knock
his hand away, but the pain was too much. “You know she wouldn’t. She never
really gave a shit about either of us, now did she?”

“Not really. She always seemed
more interested in finding a new man to knock her up. I think she thought it
was her fucking job to help populate the world one man at a time.”

Dean felt a chill in his body at
the mention of their mother. “Speaking of that. How long’s it been since you
saw your old man?”

“Years.” Gavin shrugged. “Last
time I saw him, he was running from the house as fast as he could while
your
mother threw every fucking thing she could get her hands on at his head.”

Dean had to laugh at the image.
“Yeah, could’ve been a hell of a ball player.”

“If only they used ashtrays
instead of baseballs.”

“That was her favourite weapon,
now wasn’t it.”

Gavin looked over with a huge
grin on his face. “We’ve gotta track that bitch down this Christmas and send
her a big fucking case of the ugliest ashtrays we can find.”

“You’re evil. Pure evil.” Dean
started laughing harder and harder until he doubled over in pain. “She’ll go
nuts when she opens the box, then start flinging those things all around the
house.”

“Yeah, imagine the surprise on
the guy’s face she’s currently shacked up with, when the glass starts to
shatter. It’d be priceless. He’d be lucky to escape alive.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t?” Dean wiped
his eyes, still doubled over.

“Maybe we should deliver it in
person and watch the excitement ourselves?”

They came to the end of the road
and Gavin reached for the unit, taking it from Dean’s hand. “Looks like a right
turn then a left up ahead.”

“Is Summer still in the same
location?”

“Yeah, looks like it.”

“Maybe it’s the drop spot?” Dean
said, straining to return to the sitting position. He stared over at the half brother
he’d barely known, even though they’d grown up in the same dysfunctional house.

“You know what,” Dean said,
feeling the seriousness of the situation seeping back in. “I’ve been thinking
these last few months, that if Summer ever got over what happened to her, that
I’d sell the business and move across the country for a fresh start.”

“And leave me all alone in this
fucking place?”

“Seriously, if Summer ever came
to her senses and I got her back, how could we stay? How could I risk her
falling back into the way she is now? The best thing for her would be a nice
clean slate to start with. Maybe she could get a different job—something behind
a desk. Something nice and safe.”

Gavin gave a long stare then
shook his head. “Here I thought you were the smarter one of us. If Summer does
pull through this shit the last thing she’s gonna want is to be strapped to a
desk, locked inside a building for eight hours a day. She’s always been a
fighter and she’ll want nothing more than to get right back into the mix and
throw her punches.”

Gavin hesitated before
continuing. “You remember how messed up I was after she arrested me.”

Dean nodded. “You looked like the
guards had just done a number on you with their nightsticks.”

“I never told you this before,
but those marks weren’t from any stick or even from her bodyguard, Nate. She
kicked the living shit out of me the night I got busted. I resisted and she
literally beat the fucking crap out of me.”

Dean couldn’t believe it. Gavin
had never acknowledged the physical abuse during his trial. He refused to
accuse anybody of police brutality and suddenly Dean understood. “That’s why
you wouldn’t go along with your lawyer’s motion to press for police brutality.”
An uncontrollable grin filled his face. “You couldn’t admit that such a petite
woman had kicked your ass so badly that you found your front teeth two days
later in the shitter.”

Gavin’s face was burning red with
embarrassment. “I guess I did deserve the ass kicking.” Gavin swallowed the
lump in his throat and flexed his hands. “I underestimated her. I looked at her
size and that pretty face and I thought she was only on the force for PR work,
so I took a swing at her and that’s the last thing I remember until I came to
in the hospital.”

“Wow,” Dean said. “I’m glad she
never lost her temper around me.”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure she has a
rule about beating up pussies.”

Dean started to protest, but
realized that he wasn’t the most macho person in the world. He did have more
looks than brawn and thankfully that was what attracted Summer to him.

“You’re right,” Dean said,
flipping his long curls back and giving Gavin his big white smile. “I’ll take
the looks, cause it’s easier than getting women with muscle.”

“But,” Gavin flexed his biceps.
“You’ve gotta have the muscle to keep the women.”

“Nate!” Summer screamed, jumping
from the car and rushing out the doorway to the muddy field where the cruiser
was sinking. She glanced back, seeing the truck with Sabrina inside, turning
around on the laneway. She could see her tiny head twisting over the seat,
gazing out the rear window.

Summer jumped from the laneway
into the thick mud and struggled to make her way toward the car. The way the
car had jumped off the road, she expected to see Nate’s head exploded like John
Scott’s had been. She hurried through the mud to the side of the cruiser and
gave a quick prayer when she saw Nate moving behind the wheel. Blood covered
the back of the seat and tiny fragments of glass stuck in the wet fabric of his
shirt. The bullet appeared to rip straight through his left shoulder, lodging
into the seat backing. Nate was lucky. The kidnapper missed his shot, or maybe
felt a little kind hearted.

“Are you all right?” Summer
pulled his shoulder forward checking the wound.

“Fine.” Nate bit his lip,
grimacing in pain. “Just a little hole. N—Nothing serious. Did he drop
Sabrina?”

“No.”

Nate tried to open the door, but
Summer held him back against the seat. “W—What are you waiting for? Go get
her!”

Summer turned and watched the
truck disappear over the hill. “Are you going to be all right?”

“I’m fine!” Nate knocked her hand
away and turned his head, gazing at the hole in his shoulder. “I’ll call for an
ambulance and backup.”

Summer took a step backwards then
stopped in her tracks. “No backup. I can handle this.”

Nate raised one eyebrow. “You
sure?”

Nodding, Summer trudged through
the mud, back to the Malibu before realizing that she’d dropped the keys out
the hole, along with the money. Cursing, she ran to the back wall, stuck her
arm through the hole and struggled to find the keys. They were there somewhere,
they had to be. She felt the cold canvas bag but the keys were nowhere to be
found.

“Damn it, I know he didn’t have
time to grab the keys before leaving.” Summer stood on her tiptoes and peered
through the gap in the boards. She lifted the bag carefully, praying that the
keys wouldn’t fall to the ground. And once the bag was off the wooden crate,
she saw the glint of metal balanced on the end slat of the crate. Carefully
Summer lifted the bag through the hole and dropped it to the ground, then
reached out through the hole, her fingers inches away from the keys.

Summer glanced to the service
laneway as her chest began tightening. She drew a cleansing breath, stepped
onto the bag of money and heard a small popping sound as she stretched with
everything she had, ignoring the pain in her arm as the slivers dug deeper and
deeper into her flesh. Once her fingers touched the cold metal of the key ring,
she hooked her finger through the hole and lifted them back inside.

One deep breath, then Summer
snatched the bag of money and jumped behind the wheel. Blood from the gashes
trickled down her arm, landing on the console. She ignored the stain and turned
the key, bringing the car roaring to life. Summer slammed it in reverse and
raced backwards. The Malibu hit the rut at the entrance of the barn, sending it
bouncing to the side and smashing into the half open door, which shattered into
pieces on top of Nate’s car.

Once she was clear of the debris,
she floored the pedal and the tires spun, flinging mud ten feet in the air as
she made her way around the barn, careful not to slide down into the deep muddy
field. She took a quick glance back at Nate and felt relieved that he was busy
talking on the radio.